Apple has released iOS 9.3.5 with critical security updates for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. The security fixes have been released as a response to the highly controversial remote jailbreaking vulnerability that was targeted towards an activist in UAE, by spying agencies.
The security vulnerability of iOS devices was brought into the spotlight after a human rights activist, Ahmed Mansoor of UAE, received a dubious link in a suspicious text message claiming to reveal “new secrets” about detainees tortured in UAE jails if he clicked on an included link.
Not acting with imprudent haste, Mansoor sent the message to Citizen Lab, a laboratory working on ICTs, human rights, and global security. After careful scrutiny, Citizen Lab, and Lookout Security discovered that the anonymous link was designed to use Mansoor’s iPhone as a tracking device by remotely jailbreaking it to eavesdrop on his conversations via iPhone’s microphone. The message was sent from the spying agencies as pointed out in the in-depth article by Citizen Lab.
“We recognized the links as belonging to an exploit infrastructure connected to NSO Group, an Israel-based “cyber war” company”
Read Citizen lab’s full report of the case here.
Apple was quick to act on this major security vulnerability and released iOS 9.3.5 to fix the issues. Furthermore, the latest iOS 10 update, beta 7, was also released last Friday with fixes for the vulnerabilities. It was odd to see a beta update on Friday at that time, but this security issue makes it clear why it was done so.
We advise all iOS users to update their devices. The ability to tap into anyone’s iPhone or iPad puts users’ privacy and security at high risk. Therefore, users should not worry over the non-availability of iOS 9.3.5 jailbreak and immediately secure their gadgets by updating to the latest iOS version.
Go to Settings > General > Software Update to download and install the new iOS update. Make sure that you are connected to WiFi and your iOS device has at least 50% battery charge.
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